You might have been in the local drinking hole or been chatting with friends at coffee and heard them mention they’ve decided to go private for their next dental treatment and wondered why. Yes, more and more UK citizens are deciding to go private when it comes to taking care of their teeth. But why? What are the benefits and do you get better treatment? Or is this just a money making machine? Let’s have a look at why people are opting for a private dentist in Nottingham.
Why private?
There have been a growing number of practices either opting for partial or full privatisation in the last twelve months, this is largely down to underfunding from the British government. A hard pill to swallow but a truthful one. It was reported that the number of NHS dentists fell from 23,733 to 21,544 from the end of 2020 to the end of January this year. The dental system in the UK is likely heading in the direction of becoming private and so opting to move over now could put you in a better position in the future, not to mention there are a number of benefits in treatment.
Longer appointment times
Very often those seen privately have a longer time with their dentist to discuss their issues and needs – this is especially good if you are someone who finds they suffer with some form of dental anxiety. It also means you will have enough time to fully discuss all the options of treatment available to you with your dentist.
Shorter wait times
As I’m sure you realise with more and more dentists opting to go fully private, those that offer NHS appointments are seeing huge wait times for non-emergency treatment. Often with private dentists you are able to get an appointment within a couple of days, even for a simple check-up.
More options
With private dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, which is anything that helps the look of teeth rather than function, is far more easily available. We live in a world where having a perfect smile is essential for the Instagramable selfie and with private dentistry, finding ways to attain that smile is becoming more and more possible.
Flexibility
You’ll have likely found that the working hours for NHS dentists are very limited, but this isn’t the case privately. Finding appointment times that suit you and the needs of your family is far easier with practices offering both evening and weekend appointments.
Finance
Now of course for many patients private costs aren’t affordable and this is not a case of excluding those who can’t pay. But for those who can afford to pay for private care they will be helping open up NHS slots for those who need them, but also it’s really not as expensive as you think. Private dental check-ups and treatments are largely affordable and if you’re looking for more corrective work interest-free payment plans are very much available. Plus there are also healthcare plans that you can pay for monthly that mean you don’t pay for dentistry, such as denplan.